


Sadistic Choice

by canufeelthemagictonight



Series: ETNuary [14]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Deathfic, Demons, ETNuary, Gen, Happy Matt H Day!, Matt's a good guy honestly he deserved better, Sacrifice, Sadistic Choice, Sadness, Self-Sacrifice, Sierra lives but Matt doesn't, alternate ending to s1 ep 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canufeelthemagictonight/pseuds/canufeelthemagictonight
Summary: Matt is many things—stubborn, judgmental, insecure—but he'snota monster.What if Matt Haag had read the note all the way through?An Escape the Night AU. Day 14 of ETNuary.
Series: ETNuary [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587721
Comments: 15
Kudos: 33





	Sadistic Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Day 14 is Matt Haag! Is it bad that what I'm about to write for him (while sad) is _still_ better than his canon ending?

Three steps down. Matt's looking for the fourth step, but he can't find it, and now the spiders in his stomach are beginning to get the best of him. "Did I miss a step?"

"Be our protection from the wickedness!" prays Sierra. "Banish this evil spirit!"

"I'm trying." It's a setup. It has to be. There is no fourth step. The demon's going to kill him _and_ Sierra. "I'm so sorry."

_"This is never going to end."_

It's his fault. He knows that now. He volunteered himself, backed out, and voted for Sierra instead. And now, his incompetence is going to get them both killed. Well, at least Lele will be happy.

"Do you see anything over there?" he asks his partner, trying to keep his composure for her sake.

"Maybe?"

And then— _hope,_ in the form of a box on Sierra's bedside table. Matt grabs it, throws it onto the ground, and opens it to reveal another note. "I've got some kind of clue!"

How much time does he have left? Is this timed?

Should he hurry?

 _Yeah, I should,_ he decides, _but I also gotta be careful. I don't wanna piss off the demons by doing the wrong thing._

So he reads the note quickly and carefully.

 _The fourth step requires you to pour the holy water from head to toe on the victim. Then, in order to complete the exorcism, you must choose. Put the rosary on top of the first exorcist, and he or she will die, killed by unholy spirits as they flee the victim's soul. Put the rosary on your own neck, and_ you _will be the one to die. Either way, a life is required to set this woman free._

Matt's throat goes dry. _Oh, no. Oh, this is worse than I thought._ Not only does someone have to die, but _he_ has to choose the unfortunate victim. Suicide or murder. Those are the options. Either way, everything is about to change for the worse.

"Matt?" screams Sierra, who's still struggling to hold down the woman. "Matt, is that the fourth step? What does it say?"

"It says...it says..." Matt's unable to force the words out of his mouth. He can't tell Sierra that he's about to kill one of them. She's already distressed enough as it is; if he spilled the beans about this sadistic choice, it would only worsen her mental state.

_Who should I choose?_

For half a second, he considers Sierra. After all, he doesn't want to die in the basement of an evil 1920s house, and he _definitely_ doesn't want to be killed by _unholy spirits_ of all things. But...he _can't._ She's _so_ afraid, and she hasn't done anything wrong, and if he killed her, he'd be the monster that Lele thinks he is. Matt is many things—stubborn, judgmental, insecure—but he's _not_ a monster. So there's only one choice left.

"It says I have to die, Sierra," he murmurs as he grabs the rosary. "I'm sorry."

"Matt, wait—"

But Matt has already slipped the rosary around his neck.

**Author's Note:**

> Next up: Gabbie Hanna, and with her, the halfway point of ETNuary!


End file.
